Ivory Keys
by Tsumugi-sensei
Summary: Elliot thinks about Leo way too much for it to only be a friendship, and sadly, he knows this. He doesn't want to acknowledge just how much he loves this boy. Another thing that annoys him is how utterly UNREACTIVE Leo is. Even a kiss doesn't faze him! Why! Even so... Elliot knows it's a hopeless love. Yaoi, boy x boy, don't like, don't read. :)


**Ivory Keys**

"Elliot! Hurry up! We'll be late if you don't stop procrastinating!" a call from my housekeeper startled me out of my daydream.

"Oh, right!" I called, "I'm coming!" I hurried into the carriage after her.

"Where are we going again?" I asked.

"The orphanage! Goodness, you _are _forgetful." She huffed, waving her fan about.

Staring at the velvet carriage walls in front of me, I thought. The orphanage used to be a place I loved going to because of Leo. Now, it was only a memory. All of the happiness there is a farce; I know that for sure. For example, there's a child named Philippe there, and he always goes on about his father. His deceased father. He acts as though he's alive, always smiling and laughing, going on about the letters he sends him every day. In reality, his father died by an illegal contract. He's a fool. Making an illegal contract is a death sentence. It's sad, really. All the children there are like that. They run around, smiling and laughing as if nothing is wrong.

I listened to the rattling of the carriage, thinking about Leo, my valet and friend. I remembered the day I asked him to be my valet. I received quite a shock at his blunt denial. How could anyone refuse to be my valet? I am a son of Nightray!

Leo could be quite annoying sometimes, but he was still a good friend. He had so many unique quirks, too. Like how his eyes were rarely seen because of all that hair in his face. I even instructed that he wear glasses so I would at least know where his eyes were. He's very protective of his hair, I learned. He almost killed someone once when they tried to cut it.

"What's so amusing?" the housekeeper asked.

"Hm?" I suddenly realized I had been smiling. "Oh, nothing." I tried to push away the subject, but I knew she wouldn't cease bothering me.

"Thinking about a girl?" she teased, causing me to flush.

"N-no! I'm not! Why would I? I don't even know any girls worth thinking about!" I stammered.

"Ooh, so quick to be defensive! Did I guess correctly?" she raised her eyebrows, obviously amused.

"No! I just said that I wasn't!"

"Whom _were _you thinking about then?" she was still in teasing mode.

"I-I was thinking about Leo." It suddenly went silent. _Oh, no, _I thought. _Did she get the wrong idea?_

"Hmph! You certainly _are _foolish, thinking about that boy. He's a troublemaker, you know. I still can't believe you made him your valet." She fanned faster.

"He's certainly _not _a troublemaker!" I huffed, "You have no right to judge him! Only _I _am allowed."

After that, we rode in silence, and I reminisced about when we had come before.

_Upon exiting the carriage, I stumbled. The overbearing and unintelligible noises from the remains of Sablier always clouded my mind._

_The eerie emptiness of this city always unnerved me, but I'd grown used to it._

_ "__Hello, everyone," I said. The kids were awake, and they all rushed me screaming "onii-chan!" I acted like it annoyed me, but I secretly liked the attention. I started to ask where Leo was once I pried the children off of me, but the nurse already told me. I asked every time. He was in the library as usual. I walked down the hall until I found the room I was looking for. The library wasn't much of a library; it was more of an office. The last time I came, Leo moved his bed into this room so he could be even closer to his books, and farther away from the noisy children._

_Leo is a bookworm, always reading when he didn't have anything else to do. The door was open, so I walked in and waited for him to acknowledge me._

_ "__Why are you disturbing my reading?" he asked, still looking down at his book._

_ "__Because I want to talk to you." I responded, moving closer, "You seem entirely antisocial."_

_ "__I choose to be antisocial." He kept reading, not paying any attention to me. I was right behind him, reading over his shoulder. Suddenly, he slammed the book closed._

_ "__A little privacy?" he asked._

_ "__Come on! You've closed your book now. Can't we talk?" he turned towards me, and I couldn't tell if he was annoyed or not._

_ "__Fine. What do you want to talk about?" he still held his book tightly, as if it would protect him._

_ "__What's that book you're reading?" I motioned towards it._

_He sighed before answering, "Blazing Sun book twenty." It seemed utterly boring, but at least he was interested in talking._

_ "__Ooh? And what's it about?" _

_ "__It's about a sun prince named Marris, the youngest of two, and his bodyguard Solis. She poses as a maid, but serves as a high-level protector for the prince." I was surprised that I didn't tune him out. It actually seemed like an interesting plot. _This must be one of those science fiction books I've heard about, _I thought. _

_ "__Do you have book one in here?" I said._

_ "__Yes, but," he pulled the book off of the shelf, "it's had a little wear and tear over the years." He smiled as he stared at the worn front cover. He was right about the "wear and tear". The cover was dulled and frayed at the edges, and there were even cracks. Even through the fading, I could still see the brave face of who I assumed was Solis. I gently took the book from his hands, coughing as I flipped through. The "old book" smell was comforting but suffocating at the same time._

_ "__So… Can I borrow it?"_

_ "__Yes… but you must treat it with the utmost care. I'm sure you can tell that others haven't done the same." I sighed. The evidence was obvious._

_ "__Thank you," I said, hugging the book close to me and then setting it on the desk. Suddenly, it occurred to me how much time had gone by. I checked my pocket watch._

_ "__I'll have to leave soon." I said._

_ "__Are you going to miss me?" he teased, noting the disappointment in my voice. _

_ "__Yeah, actually. I will." It was silent._

_ "__Oh… well…" he looked at the bookshelf._

_Suddenly, I felt a sort of surge in my heart, and words burst from my mouth._

_ "__Leo… I…I love you." I said before clamping my hand over my mouth and blushing in frustration. Why had I said that?_

_His unresponsiveness surprised me. Wouldn't most people be a little jolted? He wasn't, though. He just stood there, as expressionless and silent as always. His stillness annoyed me. How could he be so calm? I just said that I loved him! And suddenly, I wondered if it was true. I'd felt that odd surging feeling before when talking to Leo but I assumed it was just happiness. I'd never "loved" someone before. Not in that manner, anyways._

_I felt that surge again and moved forward by pure instinct. My heart pounded wildly as I cupped his face in my hands and stared at him. _Why won't you react? _I thought. I continued to move closer until our faces were only an inch apart, and then I closed that final distance with a single kiss. It lasted only a few seconds, but those seconds felt like the most timeless moments of my life._

_I looked at his face again. He still wouldn't react. This annoyed me to no end, but it also made me sad. I guess he did not care for me after all. I stepped back and picked the book up off the table. The atmosphere of the room felt fragile, as if it were all made of cracking glass._

_ "__Goodbye, Leo." I said, and I left his room just as the housekeeper called my name._

"Elliot!" a distant voice called. "Elliot, wake up! We've arrived!" I blinked.

"Hm?" I said as the distant voice started to shake my shoulder. I identified it as the housekeeper. "I'm awake! I'm awake!" I called, pushing her hand away as I rubbed my forehead. It throbbed slightly, a telltale sign that we had arrived in Sablier. I stepped out of the carriage, blinking at the bright grayness.

_Why did I dream about that? _I thought. It had happened several months ago and afterward, I refused to go for several weeks. They were so astounded that they thought I was sick. The next time I went, I returned the book, which was much to my liking, and acted as if nothing had happened. I even asked him to be my valet, which is when he said no. I had to bribe him by telling him of the wonders of the Nightray library, and he finally accepted.

Today, he was at the manor. They wouldn't allow him to come with us for reasons they wouldn't say. I found that very suspicious, but I made no comment.

As I entered the orphanage, the shouts of many children greeted me.

"Onii-chan, onii-chan!" they cried, hugging me tightly, "We missed you!"

"Hey! Get off of me! I'll fall down with all this weight!" I tried prying the little monsters off but they stuck like glue until the nurse finally called them away for snack time.

"Elliot… why don't you go to the library?" the housekeeper said. I obliged, thought it was odd. I usually only went there if Leo was there, and he always was. If I thought about it, the very first time I accompanied them to this place they also told me to go find Leo. They thought we would get along since we were the same age. This struck me as very suspicious indeed.

"Is there something you're discussing that I shouldn't know about?" I inquired. She immediately stiffened.

"That's none of your business, Elliot. Go on, now." She shooed me with a single motion of her fan. I went down the hall to the library, and when I opened the door, the smell of memories wafted by. They probably hadn't opened this room in a month.

I lay down on Leo's unmade bed and stared at the ceiling. The room also smelled like him. Laying there, it almost felt like he was there with me. I felt a twinge of pain and brought the messy sheets to my face. I inhaled deeply and then sighed into them. _Why is Leo so distant? _I thought. _We're friends, aren't we? At least, friends. Maybe we'll be more. I _did _kiss him. _I flushed remembering it. Where had that dose of courage come from? _Oh, Leo, _I thought, _If only I could read your mind. _

I closed my eyes for a second only to be bombarded with a firm voice a second later.

_"__Elliot," the voice belonged to Leo, and it came from behind me, "What are you doing? Get up." He looked slightly angry._

_ "__O-oh, I'm sorry." I scrambled to right myself and then proceeded to swing my legs over the edge and stand up. "L-Leo, how did you get here?"_

_ "__That's not important right now, but I'll have you know that I don't want you coming here anymore. Filthy scum like you will only taint the place." He scoffed._

_ "__W-what?" I felt another pang in my chest._

_ "__That's right," he smiled cruelly, "you're scum. All you do is annoy me every day. The books weren't worth being your valet. I hate you."_

_ "__Leo? Are you being serious?"_

_ "__Of course I'm serious," he laughed, "laughing doesn't mean I'm joking, you know." He clasped his hands behind his back._

_ "__I know you don't care about others; you're just like that. But you must care about me, right? Because you're in love with me." He was just making fun of me now. How could he be so cruel? He laughed sadistically._

_ "__You know what, Elliot? Life isn't worth anything. When someone dies, another person gets born somewhere in the world, so why bother in the first place? Why were we given life at all? It's not like we're important, or anything. After all, the universe got along just fine until we came along. I'm sure that nothing would've changed if we weren't here. It'd just be a barren planet, but that's how Mother Nature wants it. Us humans just pollute everything, slowly killing her off. So, I ask you, what difference would it make for there to be one less life?" he calmly pulled out a small blade and unsheathed it. A flash of panic flew through me as I saw it's shining blade._

_ "__L-Leo? What are you-" I was cut short as he lifted the knife and dragged it across his throat. I gasped at the sight of blood._

_ "__Leo! No!" he fell to the floor and I followed him, crouching by his side. "Please, no!" I touched his face. He was growing cold fast. I leaned over, leaning my head on his chest._

_ "__Someone help!" I cried, "Anyone!" I cried and cried and cried. It was too late._

I woke up from the dream crying. I didn't notice the tears at first; I was too focused on gathering my senses. I looked to the spot where Leo had fallen, but he wasn't there. _It…It must've been a dream, _I thought. Only then did I notice the tears. I laughed at my foolishness and brushed them away. _He would never say that, would he? _I thought. _And I'm sure he'd never… _I shivered, remembering that horrible scene. I lay back down, clinging to the bed sheets once more. I could imagine him here, propped up with the pillows and reading a book. When it reached midnight, he nurse would walk by and see his light still on. She might walk right on by, laughing to herself, or she might scold and lecture him. I smiled. Why did I always smile when I thought of him? Then, I remembered what the Leo in my dream had said: _"Because you're in love with me." _Was it true? Was that my subconscious mind trying to tell me something?

I pulled the sheets over my head and was surrounded by him. Why did his scent overwhelm me? I lay there for a while, at least an hour or two, and thought about him. All I thought about was him. I wanted to envelop myself in him, to be completely surrounded by everything that was him.

Off in dreamland, I shook. Nightmares filled my head. I wished for a pleasant dream, one where Leo smiled. _Please smile, _I thought in my dreams. _I want to see your beautiful smile._


End file.
